A Party for Maarten Baas’s Berluti Collaboration, the Opening of “Piston Head,

Just as Manhattan’s weather takes its final festive dip, the fashion and art worlds (let’s face it, who can tell which is which these days?) descend on Miami Beach for everyone’s favorite seasidefair, Art Basel. But before the throngs of more than 50,000 swarm the city’s Art Deco thoroughfares in search of the best new visual investments, there’s a slew of parties to attend. Last night, guests such as Alexia Niedzielski, Delfina Delettrez, and model Daria Strokous jump-started their itineraries with a toast to designer Maarten Baas’s collaboration with Berluti. Baas’s whimsical shoe mirror and chaise longue provided the perfect backdrop for cocktails, conversation, and pre-fair speculation; a jaunt to the de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space for an intimate dinner hosted by Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz and Pietro Beccari put a chic cap on the evening for some.

Others, however, were off to the Soho Beach House for a fete to honor artist Tracey Emin’s new exhibition at MOCA North Miami (her first solo show in the U.S.). Pharrell Williams and Kevin Spacey were among the crowd gathering around the azure pool and fuschia-lit palms for a bite to eat (black truffle risotto and pan-seared branzino) and perhaps a bit more to drink (the Perrier-Jouët flowed freely).

Meanwhile, at Herzog & de Meuron’s buzz-worthy converted parking garage, 1111 Lincoln Road, art and design world darlings Lola Montes Schnabel, Kyle de Woody, Yvonne Force Villareal, and Maria Baibakova convened for the opening of a different kind of exhibition. Titled “Piston Head: Artists Engage the Automobile,” the eclectic collection of fourteen cars featured transformations by such artists past and present as Richard Prince, Ron Arad, and Keith Haring. As Todd Eberle snapped photos of the works and Montes Schnabel’s prismatic ensemble competed with Damien Hirst’s polka-dotted car for attention, another installment of Art Basel Miami Beach announced its well-heeled debut.